REDWOOD CITY — The fate of Eddie Rapoza, accused of murdering his pregnant wife, the fetus she was carrying and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter by driving the family van off a Moss Beach cliff, now lies in the hands of a jury.

After an emotion-filled day in which both sides presented final arguments, jurors rose from their chairs and filed past the forlorn Rapoza into the deliberation room. They will decide whether or not on Oct. 6, 2002, Rapoza veered intentionally off the cliff in a murder-suicide attempt or whether the crash was an accident.

Prosecutor Alfred Giannini,his face flush with emotion, reminded jurors that Rapoza threatened repeatedly to commit suicide throughout his tempestuous marriage. Giannini is asking the jury to find Rapoza guilty of three counts of premeditated murder and lock him up for life without the possibility of parole.

“(Suicide) was his contemplated response when the relationship did not go as he wished. He thought about it and considered the ramifications,” Giannini said.

Giannini said that, in interviews with detectives from Rapoza’s hospital bed, Eddie explained that he and his wife, Raye, got into a heated argument that day. Their daughter, Tehani, was in the van’s back seat.

Eddie demanded she tell the truth about an alleged affair, Giannini said. “Tell me the truth or get out,” Giannini recounted, reading from a transcript of Rapoza’s conversations with detectives. Raye refused. “She figured I wouldn’t do it if she stayed in the car,” Giannini continued from the transcript.

“And now about the coldest thing you’re likely to hear in a courtroom,” Giannini said. “The detective asked ‘What were you thinking?’ ‘All for one and one for all,'” Giannini read.

“It’s enough to make you sick. A 4-year-old girl is going over a cliff because his wife wouldn’t admit to an affair she didn’t have,” Giannini said.

In addition to his interview with the detectives, Giannini highlighted the testimony of Rapoza’s father-in-law, Richard Pang Jr. After the crash, Rapoza had asked Pang to write a letter on his behalf. Pang said he would, if Rapoza told him the crash was an accident.

Rapoza never answered the question. Pang and Robin Maganaris, Raye’s sister, sat among family and friends watching the the arguments.

Rapoza sat at the defense table in a tan suit, wiping tears from his eyes.

Defense: Tragic accident made worse

Rapoza meant to scare his wife, not kill her, defense attorney Jeffery Boyarsky countered. Rapoza is a “tortured soul” who acted in a “rash, impulsive” way because he believed she was having an affair — but in no way was this a premeditated murder.

“This was accidental; he didn’t intend to kill. He was simply, carelessly trying to scare his wife and was unable to correct (the vehicle). That’s an accident, and you should vote not guilty,” Boyarsky said, standing behind a podium facing the panel of jurors.

Rapoza, watching his attorney address the jury, wiped a steady stream of tears from his eyes.

Boyarsky dismissed the testimony of a Stanford psychiatrist who said Rapoza had not shown proper signs of grief. “Is there some test we have for grief? That condition varies as much as the human condition varies,” he said.

Boyarsky conceded Rapoza’s inconsistent statements about how his foot got stuck on the van’s accelerator and highlighted the demonstration of his expert, Dr. Richard Schmidt, who showed the jury that a foot clad in a tennis shoe could become lodged between the brake and gas pedals of the van.

And Rapoza’s multiple stories about how his foot got stuck were caused by memory problems fueled by his trauma and injuries, Boyarsky said.

“Rapoza, from day one, has kept repeating one thing … that his foot got stuck. And that had to be checked out,” Boyarsky said. “It’s not the way he thought it happened but the way it did happen,” Boyarsky said.

The defense attorney took aim at Rapoza’s statements to detectives as well and counted off a laundry list of sedatives and anti-seizure medications administered at the hospital that could have impaired Rapoza’s judgment.

After Boyarsky concluded, Giannini rose and delivered an impassioned rebuttal. He recounted how Raye Rapoza had refused to exit the minivan, believing that by doing so, she would save her husband’s life.

“She gave her life because of her unfounded faith in his decency, and he has none,” Giannini said. “He made himself guilty when he made his own choices and killed a pregnant woman and a little kid.”

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